


Life Goes On

by Elfriend



Series: Inspired in part by Emu Family Supernatural RP on Twitter [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:47:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29886177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elfriend/pseuds/Elfriend
Summary: In which I establish the canon for my post-Supernatural-series stories. Inspired in part by Emu Family Supernatural RP on Twitter ( @EmuMobBunker, https://emufamilyrp.wordpress.com/ )
Series: Inspired in part by Emu Family Supernatural RP on Twitter [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2197374
Kudos: 2





	Life Goes On

After Jack absorbed Chuck’s power, (and Amara’s along with it), the Winchesters checked off another apocalypse on their ledger. Chuck was stuck living a human life, Rowena was keeping Hell in order with the assistance of Ketch, Cas and Jack had sorted out Heaven, and the monster activity in general was pretty quiet, comparatively speaking. It wasn’t retirement, exactly, but it sorta felt like retirement. Being able to take on cases with less cosmic consequence was a pleasant change of pace.

Dean was more relaxed than he ever remembered being. He even had a dog, Miracle, who he permitted to ride in the Impala and everything, much to Sam’s amusement. He would never stop being Sam’s big brother, but Sam was the one the other hunters looked to for leadership, and Dean was more than ok with that. He was proud. 

Cas had chosen to live at The Bunker and care for his family and his bees. Nowadays, Dean and Cas found themselves in uncharted territory, which made Dean uncertain, and uncertainty had a tendency to make him ornery and difficult, but they were learning to be patient with each other. After all, an angel and a human bonded to one another by friendship and shared trials was an entirely new thing. 

Sam felt responsible for the other hunters, of course, but he, too, was enjoying the more relaxed state of things, even with a woman in his life who left him feeling, paradoxically, both unprecedented contentment, and jumpy as a cat in a room full of rockers, as Bobby might have said. 

Loving Eileen was an inevitability, not because of any machinations of Chuck, but because Sam and Eileen chose it. Even so, he had to consciously keep re-gifting himself permission to enjoy their unfolding relationship - reminding himself that the time may finally be right for the life he wanted, but never dared believe he might actually have.

Eileen was surprised to realize she was happy to give up her solitary hunter’s life. Although she occasionally had to stomp on his more overprotective tendencies, loving Sam asked nothing of her in terms of compromise, so when he asked her to stay, she did. In The Bunker, she had family, and love, and the opportunity to develop new interests like herbology and spellwork. Nobody found it remotely odd that she also kept her hunting knives sharp.

Sometimes Sam and Dean would just stare at each other, mutually astonished at the unlikelihood of their current condition, no words necessary. There was a precarious moment on a hunt where Dean nearly died, but Cas was a prayer away, and it all worked out. They’d had time to digest the gravity of all they had done, and truly mourn their losses. 

One day, Dean started writing them down, the brave and loyal people they had lost over the years since Dean picked up Sam at Stanford. “John & Mary Winchester,” he wrote, then “Bobby,” and “Charlie,” then “Kevin.”

Sam saw what he was doing and silently added “Jo”, “Ellen,” & “Ash” to the list.

With a rueful shrug, Dean added “Crowley” and Sam couldn’t argue the addition. He wrote “Gabriel,” and, “Meg.” Dean added, “Mick.” This went on for some time until the list was surprisingly long. The people they missed. The lost friends, and some-time enemies that made up their extended found family. 

For Jack’s part, he was new to being God, or whatever, and he had fully intended to stay out of people’s business entirely, but he loved his family, and didn’t want to miss out on their lives, either. The list was something he couldn’t bring himself to ignore. He would let them choose for themselves, but he made the offer to all of them: Come back and live the life that was cut unfairly short, or stay in the afterlife. 

John and Mary hadn’t even needed to discuss it. One glance at one another and they knew. Now that Heaven wasn’t a fraudulent shadow-play of memories, but a true afterlife, they were ready to hang up their spurs and just be together. Finally.

Bobby had always said if there was ever a way to come back into the fray, he wanted in. It was a much better afterlife than it had started out to be, and the fray wasn’t the epic battle it once was, but he still had things he wanted to do in the world.

Ash, having taken advantage of the original Heaven’s loopholes with applied string theory, and Charlie, eager to tap into any and all new knowledge to stave off the utter boredom of her afterlife, had found one another when The Empty invaded Heaven. The unexpected friendship had made their time in the former Heaven more tolerable for both of them. Given the opportunity to dive back into life had an undeniable appeal, however. They were both in.

Ellen figured Jo had barely begun to live, and deserved a second chance. Jo figured the same, and Ellen sure as hell wasn’t about to miss out on seeing her have it. They were a “yes.”

Kevin had about had it being jerked around by cosmic forces beyond his control, and chose to stay in the revamped Heaven, out of the way of any and all possible future fuckery, which if it were to come, would likely come in proximity to the Winchesters. He cared, of course he did, and he missed his Mom, but he’d sooner catch them all on the flip side.

In The Empty, everyone was awake and making an afterlife of their own while the entity known as The Empty went from furious, to half-mad, to near-silent irrelevance. Jack found that Gabriel, who at his most sedate could never be called a wallflower, was more than ready to jump back into life. 

The Empty was happy to see him go, and roused itself enough to insist Jack take some of the other noisier offenders. Jack was happy to do so, though he definitely didn't intend for Lucifer to hitch a ride back. He would have to enforce a power restriction on his unruly father. 

Billie was irritated and still pretty sure the new state of affairs was doomed, though she gradually had to admit that her plan may not have been the only way, or even the best way. She wouldn't have come back to life even if Jack had offered, which Jack didn't. She passed her time playing chess with her former boss and rather smugly appreciating The Empty's discomfort. Jack left her to it.

It went on that way until everyone had made their choice, but Jack wasn't done yet. He knew what would please his family most, so he rebuilt The Roadhouse and Singer’s Salvage Yard brick by brick with the same sticky cash drawer, and the same squeaky stair, and everything just as it was...except he put them in Lebanon, Kansas...just outside of town, practically across the road from each other and next to a B&B-style inn he had plans for.

Jack’s favorite pair of Sheriffs had come up with their own plan for the future, and were looking to establish a place where hunters, and others touched by the supernatural, could find a safe haven. It hadn’t taken much, he just made sure Jody saw an ad for the Inn for sale in Lebanon, then fixed it so there was nothing left for them to do but sign on the dotted line, which, naturally, they had. 

It hadn’t taken long for Donna to become Sheriff of Smith County, Kansas, and Jody to go into Private Investigation. Alex found a nursing job at the county hospital, and, let's face it, Claire was Claire wherever Claire was. Patience explored her grandmother's legacy in the kitchen and the mind, while Kaia, still learning to manage her dreamwalking, also took on the management of the Inn. 

Charlie was determined to build out her supernatural database, so for a while she stuck with her pal, Ash, who Jack had gifted with his old, beat-up, Winnebago. They drove around the continent collecting lore and scanning documents. Ash would eventually settle at The Roadhouse while Charlie traveled the rest of the world, stopping at the "Way Haven Inn" as they had dubbed it, between trips.

Anael moved to Florida and made an excellent living acquiring rare magical items for a select clientele. 

Garth moved over from Missouri after a tragic hunting accident left him in need of a safe place. He’d sought refuge at the Inn where Alex tended to his wounds until he was able to heal on his own. Garth and Bess agreed that living closer to the non-lycanthrope part of their pack was safest for the kids. 

They were all finding their way in the new world order, and that suited Jack, since it put a good bit of his family in proximity to one another. It wasn’t all going to be perfect, but it was going to be life on their own terms.

Jack saw that it was good.


End file.
